Humanverse

Gerard vs Gerlad

American parents have registered 58,932 Gerards since 1880, against 86 Gerlads. Gerard is still ahead, with 95 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Gerard against Gerlad, 1880 to 2025 0 500 1k 1.5k 2k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Gerard Gerlad

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Gerard has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1886 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1988, when Gerard had 327 and Gerlad had 6.

Side by side

  Gerard Gerlad
Total US births 58,93286
Most in one year 1,61710
Babies in 2025 95under 5
Estimated living today 34,00070
Median age today 6250
Peak year 19561941
Best rank 180th boys2,333rd boys
Rank in 2025 1,708thunranked
First recorded 18861941
Girls / boys 112 / 58,8200 / 86

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Gerards alive today are over 62; half the Gerlads are over 50. That is 12 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Gerard and Gerlad.